Bridge Problem 29

Play the card you are known to have
South/N-S



 6 3 2
9 8 5 4
6 5 2
K J 3
Q J 9 5
Q 7
J 8 4 3
Q 10 6
N
W
E
S
 10 8 4
K J 6 2
Q 10 7
7 5 2
A K 7
A 10 3
A K 9
A 9 8 4
SouthWestNorthEast
2Pass2Pass
2 NTPass3 NTPass
PassPass
Opening lead V
Declarer won the opening spade lead in hand and successfully finessed the jack of clubs, then cashed the king.
Problem: What is the best card for West to follow with?
For solution go to the bottom of the page[IMAGE]











Solution:

Suppose West more or less automatically followed with the ten. Declarer would continue with a club to the ace and, when the queen dropped, nine tricks would be there for the taking -two spades, one heart, two diamonds and four clubs.
Now let's assume that, instead of playing the ten of clubs, West dropped the card that was marked to be in the defender's hand -the queen. This would provide declarer with a new option. Instead of a 3-3 break, there is the opportunity of taking a finesse for the ten of clubs!
If West's queen is an honest card, the finesse is a guaranteed winner. It is very well possible that declarer will continue with a club to the nine, and when the ten wins, nine tricks have suddenly been reduced to eight!
Moral: see title.
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